Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson puts faith in youngsters

Roy Hodgson has insisted the young reserves who have helped Liverpool progress
seamlessly in Europe this season have done enough to prove he does not need
a major influx of signings in the January transfer window.

Upbeat: Roy Hodgson says he has been impressed with Liverpool's young players in EuropePhoto: EPA

Although the Liverpool manager has chosen to rest the majority of his stars for Europa League engagements this campaign, preferring instead the likes of Daniel Pacheco, Martin Kelly, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson, a draw with Steaua Bucharest last week ensured the club top spot in Group K and qualification with a game to spare.

It has long been assumed, both inside and outside Anfield, that Liverpool’s season would hinge on how many players Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owners, would permit Hodgson to sign in January. While they may not have attracted the same praise as has been heaped on the shoulders of Aston Villa’s youth prospects, the 63-year-old acknowledges his young charges have altered his plans.

“In an ideal world we would still strengthen our squad in terms of senior players,” he said. “I think it is going to be pretty harsh to give the Pachecos, Kellys and Wilsons of this world a long run of games. At their age they would find it hard to cope with that.

“But the game in Bucharest gives me more confidence we can face up to a long, hard season. What it does too is hopefully mean the new owners and myself do not have to panic and go out and add numbers to the squad just for the sake of doing so in January.

“It will give us that calmness to say ‘look, if we cannot get the quality and type of player we really want, then let’s keep the faith in some of these young ones and wait for the right type to come along’.

“If the European campaign had gone badly and we had not picked up a few more points lately, then we could have been looking at the transfer window and saying we have really got to get some more players in because the squad is too thin. Now I think we’d say ’yes, we would like some new ones with experience, we would like to improve the squad, but let’s make sure we get the right guys’.” A host of names have been linked with Liverpool since Fenway Sports Group’s takeover and the appointment of Damien Comolli as Director of Football Strategy, with the club scouting heavily in Holland, Belgium and France.

Four players are under scrutiny at Lille — including Eden Hazard, Gervinho and Adil Rami — while Liverpool also maintain an interest in three players at Rennes, Sylvain Marveaux, Yann M’Vila and full-back Rod Fanni, though Marseille’s emergence as rivals for his signature may prompt an auction the Premier League club do not wish to enter.

Regardless, Hodgson has warned that Liverpool will not be turned around in months. “We are looking a much better team,” he said. “But you don’t do it after just a few weeks or even months. It can take years to reach the level when you’re having success. But I’m really happy with the progress we’ve made.”